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Your Ideal Composer for the Film

So, I'd just like to see which composers you guys are most interested in having score the MOTU film, if you had your choice. Feel free to pick whichever ones you would be happy with.

Personally, my pick would be Elliot Goldenthal. This guy can do everything from the creepy and atmospheric to the bombastic and operatic. His works include Alien3, Batman Forever, Frida, and Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. He's got the chops to do MOTU justice, but unlike guys like Williams or Shore, is more or less untapped in the scoring of an epic saga, which would give the series an identifiable voice.

He's also big on leitmotif (those hummable themes that fanboys love so much). anyway, here's a sampling of some of Goldenthal's work that demonstrates his appropriateness for MOTU:

i think music like this would be great for a transformation sequence (especially about 1:43 in)

i can just picture eternia with this one

here, Goldenthal makes great use of choir. i would really love it if He-Man's theme had some male chorus in it.

He-Man riding Battle Cat headlong into the dark hemisphere

relaxation music fit for snake mountain...listen to this one in the dark with headphones if you can.

So, I'd just like to see which composers you guys are most interested in having score the MOTU film, if you had your choice. Feel free to pick whichever ones you would be happy with.

...

but who do you want, and why?

Bri-Man, great list of composers!

My picks and why...

I left off a lot of big names that I did not feel were a good fit. Unfortunately, I expect if this movie does ever get made it will employ a no-name Hans Zimmer clone, and we would be lucky to have any of these guys.

Elliot Goldenthal - I did not recognize his name, but your examples sold me.

Michael Giacchino - one of my top choices. He is so talented and versatile I think he could do any genre well.

Danny Elfman - one of my old favorites who leaves me feeling a little burned-out these days. Still, he always has the potential to be awesome.

John Williams - my knee-jerk choice is always John Williams, because I think he is the best, particularly when it comes to composing the important themes of an epic soundtrack. To be honest, though, his incidental music in recent years always sounds like Star Wars to me. I like how the Harry Potter soundtracks transitioned to other composers after the first few films, so they still kept some of those great themes but got some new ideas as well.

Howard Shore - his LOTR work was great.

Javier Navarrete - another top choice. If it meant we were also getting Guillermo del Toro instead of Jon Chu, I would be thrilled.

Alexandre Desplat - my #1 choice. I think he would do an incredible job capturing the mystery of Castle Grayskull and the creepiness of Skeletor. Here is a clip from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows...

Even more so than film music, there is a lot of symphonic music that suits my taste for Eternia. I would love for the new soundtrack composer to take inspiration from Alan Hovhaness. Check out his "Mysterious Mountain" symphony. Here is a clip of the first movement...

Another example is Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis"...

There is an other-wordly quality in those pieces that evokes Castle Grayskull for me.

My ideal composer would be whoever the ghostwriter was that the Haim Saban & Shuky Levy company hired to compose the first batch of music for the Filmation cartoon (i.e., the first-season themes such as Mystics and Evil Plannings, that feature superb orchestration and are of significant artistic merit, not the stylistically divergent later themes featuring unremarkable synthesizer accompaniments, such as Hordak's theme, that probably were composed by a different ghostwriter of lesser talent).

i gotta say, i'm surprised that john williams and hans zimmer are in the lead.

don't get me wrong, i love the work of both composers, but i feel that if either were chosen, it would detract from a MOTU film series having it's own musical voice. i would prefer to have a composer that is mainly untapped for a major franchise.

basically, i would not want MOTU to sound like star wars or superman, and zimmer is scoring so much these days, that i feel he's kind of a flavor of the month. MOTU should stand apart.

And also my ideal and favorite composer, Michael Kamen, is dead.... It's ten years and I'm still in shock...

So my vote go to Giorgio Moroder!!!

Trevor Jones!!!

And James Horner!!!

oh man, i really miss goldsmith
he would definitely have my vote, were he still with us.

moroder and jones are great choices...especially if they could infuse some of the 80's flair of their earlier work.

james horner...if we were talking about late 80s or early 90s horner, i would be behind that choice, but since time travel isn't an option, i'm forced to face my opinion that his recent catalog is a string of self-plagiarism and generic worn out motifs. with the exception of his score to The New World.

oh man, i really miss goldsmith he would definitely have my vote, were he still with us.

I can understand...

Originally Posted by Bri-Man

moroder and jones are great choices...especially if they could infuse some of the 80's flair of their earlier work.

That's exactly why I chose 'em!

Originally Posted by Bri-Man

James horner...if we were talking about late 80s or early 90s horner, i would be behind that choice, but since time travel isn't an option, i'm forced to face my opinion that his recent catalog is a string of self-plagiarism and generic worn out motifs. with the exception of his score to The New World.

Kamen is another i miss. one of the very first scores i ever owned was Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. i wore that tape out, playing it over and over! his music alone really made me feel like i was in the middle ages. i think that's something he could have really contributed to a he-man score.

Seriously, I, like many, want to leap in with my main man Williams, or even push Zimmer in, but the notion of MOTU getting its own "voice" musically is a great idea. That said, I would nominate Kevin Kiner, who tackled the SW themes and made them new again for Clone Wars.

Of course, I'd take Bill Conti back any day of the week. (Except Tuesday; I have an exam and would have to reschedule anyhow.) But seriously, I LOVE his work on the '87 film.

Not to sound like a creepy cheerleader for Uki, but it's nice to know there is at least one person on this forum who is extremely positive & friendly all the time. I don't think I could be that nice even if you paid me. If we ever give out awards for "forum member of the month", Uki gets my vote. -Mr. Shokoti